'You Are Invited': Isolated Iran Seeks Foreign Tourists

People ride a horse and carriage through Isfahan's central square in June 2014. With its immense mosques, picturesque bridges and ancient bazaar, the city is a virtual living museum of Iranian traditional culture and is a top tourist destination. After decades of difficult relations with the West, Iran now says it wants more foreign tourists, including Westerners.

Isfahan, here viewed from Khaju Bridge, is a top tourist attraction. Relatively few Westerners have visited the country in recent decades, but many Iranians say they are ready to open up to the West.

Molly Messick
/ NPR

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Originally published on February 18, 2015 10:39 am

Two events last week suggested the conflicting currents in Iran. The country marked the anniversary of its revolution last Wednesday with the usual slogan, "Death to America." The following day, Iran opened an international tourism exhibition with a different slogan: "You are invited."

Iran wants to welcome more international tourists, including Americans. But that's a challenge for a country that's wary of outsiders, and closely monitors its own people.

The exhibition suggested the attractions of Iran. A booth for the city of Yazd advertised a city with buildings dating back thousands of years. Sepida Sefarzadeh, a Yazd tour guide, offered a tray filled with baklava. She followed up with a ceramic tile decorated with with a photo of a famous mosque.

"I think Iran has been sending some very positive messages about international engagement. Tourism is a very important tool for that," said Taleb Rifai, the U.N. official.

But he gave Iran some straightforward advice: "Open up."

Can Iran Change Course?

Those two simple words suggest this story is about more than attracting a few tourist dollars. Iran certainly needs that money, struggling as it is with global sanctions over its nuclear program, but earning more requires a change in outlook.

Since Islamist clerics took power in 1979, they have limited the people's contact with the outside world. The government has controlled information and granted very few visas to would-be visitors. The government has begun making moves to relax its visa policies, although that is just the beginning of a long journey.

From the exhibition we drove almost 300 miles to Iran's great tourist destination: Isfahan, a historic city where we could see the opportunities and challenges of that advice to open up.

Rows of pointed brick arches line every side of the centuries-old square at the heart of Isfahan. Lights glow in those arches in the evening. Horses and carriages carry tourists at almost alarming speeds, past the glittering blue tiles of a mosque. A palace balcony overlooks this scene. The palace belonged to kings who once ruled Persia and made this city their capital from the 1500s to the 1700s.

At the edge of the square, a passing bike rider came to a stop, and asked what we were doing. We're doing a story about tourism, I said.

He replied: "Tourism or terrorism?"

We clarified that we mean tourism, which is a subject Ehsan Amin Javaheri thinks about a lot. He sells Persian carpets for a living, and believes several factors keep tourists away from Iran.

"For example, the price for visa, that's one problem," he says. "The second thing: It's a long process to get the visa. Sometimes they never get it. And, it could be wearing the scarf for the women. You know people cannot drink alcohol; this type of stuff, freedom they have in their own country, here they don't have it."

And then there are the economic sanctions, which can make it hard for international visitors just to use their credit cards.

Javaheri is hopeful for change. He's especially hopeful for more American customers.

"Because they are the best customers," he says. "They buy; they buy good quantity and good prices. They pay tips, as well."

Javaheri hasn't seen many Americans yet. He has heard that California tour operators plan to bring more of them. And that would make a difference around this square, where shopkeepers told us business has been bad for years and years.

But there is still a problem: Opening up Iran means Iran would have to be more open.

Lingering Misperceptions

Walking around Isfahan reminded me of something I'd heard from an economist a few days before. The economist was Mehdi Behkish, of Iran's branch of the International Chamber of Commerce. He's struggled for years to get foreign businessmen to bring along their families.

"All those people coming from Europe, businessmen I mean, when they came they said their wives were very afraid to come here," Behkish says.

Behkish blamed negative stories about Iran in the Western media.

"How come people in the West think that way? Why are they afraid?" he asks. "Sometime they said they are afraid to walk in the streets; that's garbage."

Behkish is right that Iran's streets feel extraordinarily safe. Isfahan was totally relaxed; sometimes couples walked hand in hand. But it's also true that some outsiders vanish into captivity.

Haleh Esfandiari is an Iranian-American writer who was imprisoned in 2007. Jason Rezaian is an Iranian-American reporter for The Washington Post who's in prison now. Both were accused of spying, but it's not clear why.

Amir Hekmati, another Iranian-American who visited family in Iran, was actually convicted of spying, and he remains in prison though his death sentence was overturned. Once they get into Iran, some visitors must take a moment to wonder if they will get out.

And we noticed something else in Isfahan.

In a long passageway lined with shops, we encountered an Iranian woman and her daughter. She was excited to meet an American and to tell a story she normally could not.

"You know the condition here, situation here. Here we cannot talk, you know we just can see and say [and] do nothing," said the woman, who asked that we identify her only as Shila.

Even as we stood talking, three men began hovering behind her, a little too close and a little too curious. We stepped into a side street, with Shila's daughter beside us, and there Shila told a story of middle-class struggle.

A devastating recession only recently ended in Iran. It was blamed not just on sanctions, but on government mismanagement. Shila told me her husband is a medical researcher who can't find anyone to finance his work. He's had to pay for it himself. Shila has been working as an English-language tutor to help support their daughter.

I asked if she thought her daughter would have a better life.

"Here, I don't think so," she says. "I'm planning to send her."

Send her where?

"You know, as we think, the paradise of the world is the United States."

If more visitors do come to Iran, they will encounter this reality: Some of the friendly people they'll meet on arrival desperately want to leave.

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Iran is on the edge of something more than a possible nuclear deal with the West. It is on the edge of opening to the world.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing) Iran. Iran.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Last week, the Islamic Republic marked the anniversary of its revolution with the usual patriotic songs and also the usual slogans, like death to Israel and death to America.

GREENE: The very next day, the very same country opened an international tourism exhibition. This event had a completely different slogan; you are invited.

MONTAGNE: Iran wants to welcome more tourists, a challenge for a country that's wary of outsiders and closely monitors its own people. Our colleague Steve Inskeep is just back from Iran where he took a walk among tourism company booths at the exhibition.

STEVE INSKEEP, BYLINE: So we have a spa. We have a water park, Thai massage, a variety of hotels and historic cities like Yazd, Hepus (ph) in this exhibition hall that we're walking through as well as travel agencies and more. Here's a mockup of the front of an airplane.

The booth for this city of Yazd, with its buildings thousands of years old, is staffed by a woman who is considerably younger.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SEPIDA SEFARZADEH: Information about Yazd, I can give you.

INSKEEP: Sepida Sefarzadeh offered a tray filled with baklava. She followed up with a ceramic tile decorated with a photo of a famous mosque.

This is a symbol of - I'm sorry. I'm chewing the baklava. This is a symbol of Yazd. It's from...

At the grandiose opening ceremony for this exhibition, we found the visiting leader of the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

TALEB RIFAI: I think Iran has been sending some very positive messages about international engagement. Tourism is a very important tool for that.

INSKEEP: And Taleb Rifai is hoping visitors will give Iran a chance.

What is your advice to Iran to make sure that that works?

RIFAI: Open up. Just say to the world, welcome to Iran.

INSKEEP: Open up. Those two simple words suggest this story is about more than attracting a few tourist dollars. Iran certainly needs that money, struggling as it is with global sanctions over its nuclear program. But earning more requires a change in outlook. After Islamists took power in 1979, they limited the people's contact with the outside world. The government controlled information and granted very few visas to would-be visitors. Now the government has begun making moves to relax its visa policies, although that is just the beginning of a long journey.

So we're on the highway speeding southward out of Tehran. We just passed by some low mountains that look like the covers of an unmade bed. Our destination is Isfahan, Iran's great tourist destination, a historic city and a place where we can see the opportunities and challenges of that advice to open up.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELLS)

INSKEEP: We arrived in the heart of Isfahan, a centuries-old square. Rows of pointed brick arches line every side of that square. Lights glowed in those arches in the evening. Horses and carriages raced tourists at almost alarming speeds. Other visitors took pictures of the glittering blue tiles of a mosque. It's all overlooked by a palace balcony, which belonged to kings who once ruled Persia and made this city their capital from the 1500s to the 1700s. At the edge of the square, a passing bike rider came to a stop and asked what we were doing.

We're doing a story about tourism. I guess it's one of the great tourist centers for Iran, isn't it?

EHSAN AMIN JAVAHERI: Tourism or terrorism?

INSKEEP: We clarified that we meant tourism, which is a subject that Ehsan Amin Javaheri thinks about a lot. He sells Persian carpets for a living and believes several factors keep tourists away from Iran.

JAVAHERI: The price for visa, that's one problem. The second thing is that it is a long process, you know, in order to get the visa. Sometimes they never get it and could be - you know, wearing the scarf for the women. You know, people cannot drink alcohol. I mean, those types of freedom they have in their own country, here they don't have it.

INSKEEP: And then there are the economic sanctions, which can make it hard for international visitors just to use their credit cards. Javaheri is hopeful for change and especially hopeful for more American customers.

JAVAHERI: Because they are the best customers. They buy. They buy good quantity and the good prices. I mean, they pay tips as well.

INSKEEP: Javaheri has not seen very many Americans yet. He has heard that California tour operators plan to bring more of them, and that would make a difference around this square, where shopkeepers told us business has been bad for years and years.

We're at a popular restaurant here in Isfahan. It is full tonight. My producer, Molly Messick, and I are sharing this bowl of olives. They are seasoned with walnuts and pomegranate juice and spices. They just taste amazing. And at this table right over here, a group of 18 people from Austria is having dinner. Foreign tourists are coming here.

The best hotel in town features dozens of little national flags behind the front desk. We didn't find an American flag. The clerk joked it was out being washed.

But there is still a problem. Opening up Iran means Iran would have to be more open. Walking around Isfahan reminded me of something I'd heard from an economist a few days before. The economist was Medhi Bekish of Iran's branch of the International Chamber of Commerce. He has struggled for years to get foreign businessmen to bring along their families.

MEDHI BEKISH: All those people coming from Europe isn't as fun. I mean, when they came, they said their wives were very afraid to come here.

INSKEEP: Bekish blamed negative stories about Iran in the Western media.

BEKISH: How come the people in the West think that way? Why you are afraid to come?

INSKEEP: I think because there have been cases of individuals who get detained - Haleh Esfandiari, Jason Rezaian - and they hear those...

BEKISH: OK. OK.

INSKEEP: ...Stories, and they get very worried.

BEKISH: That's understand. That's understand. But sometime, they say they are afraid to walk in the streets. That's garbage.

INSKEEP: Bekish is right that Iran's streets feel extraordinarily safe. Isfahan was totally relaxed. Sometimes couples walked hand in hand. But it's also true that some outsiders in Iran vanish into captivity. Haleh Esfandiari is an Iranian-American writer who was imprisoned in 2007. Jason Rezaian is an Iranian-American reporter for The Washington Post, who is in prison now. Both were accused of spying. It's not clear why.

Once they get into Iran, some visitors must take a moment to wonder if they will get out. And we noticed something else in Isfahan. In a long passageway lined with shops, we encountered an Iranian woman and her daughter. Shila was excited to meet an American and to tell a story she normally could not.

SHILA: You know, the condition here - situation here...

INSKEEP: Mhm.

SHILA: ...Here we cannot talk.

SHILA: You know, we just can see and say and do nothing.

INSKEEP: Even as we stood talking, three men began hovering behind her, a little too close, a little too curious. Shila grew uncomfortable.

Let's walk. We can continue talking as we walk.

SHILA: Yeah, because, you know, people...

INSKEEP: Yeah. People getting interested. I understand.

We stepped into a side street with Shila's daughter beside us, and Shila told a story of middle-class struggle. A devastating recession only recently ended in Iran, a recession blamed not just on sanctions, but on government mismanagement. Shila told me her husband is a medical researcher who could not find anyone to finance his work. He's had to pay for it himself. Shila has been working as an English-language tutor to help support their daughter.

Do you think that she's going to be able to grow up to have a better life than you've had?

SHILA: Here, I don't think so. I'm, you know, planning to send her.

INSKEEP: To where?

SHILA: You know, as we think the paradise of the world is the United States, as we think (laughter).

INSKEEP: If more visitors do come to Iran, they will encounter this reality; some of the friendly people they will meet on arrival desperately want to leave. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.